I have always wondered if I have any ancestors in the Civil War but just found out this Thanksgiving that no one has ever made a family tree of our family and my Grandmother who is the oldest couldnt remember any. Is there a website that could help me out or some other way . I have seen ads for Ancestors.com or something like that on TV are these any good? I do know that my ancestors moved from Indiana right before the war to MO. I am just looking for a direction to start in I know that alot of folks study geneolgy here so am looking for Ideas. I am unemployeed right now so have the time for the research.

Younglobo, I have heard Ancestory is good. It is expensive to join. Do you live near a library that has a geneology room? I was lucky that here in Huntington Beach they had such a place. Found one side of my family there in some of the books.

Use the US census too to checkbackwards.

Also if there is a LDS research center near you check with them. We also have one of those here in HB. Years ago I went to one of those centers and the people were so helpful showing me how to research my family.

A good place to start is the national park service soldiers and sailors system. Click soldiers, type in the name your interested in and his side/state if known. Also, you can look into each individual regiment. Gives a good brief synopsis of that regiments engagements, etc. Also, a roster. Be careful with the LDS. During the early 20th century a researcher there sold bogus geneology data. When I find his name in my files I'll be glad to post it. I use ancestry.com a great deal. However, I've found some information there which was incorrect. A lot of their data is entered by individuals which can be spurious. I always try to verify my information from a second or third source. Also, contact the individual county historical society for information. Also, gravelocator.com is a good tool to use.

There are many sources available that might be of use to you. Apparently, you can get no help from other relatives, which is too bad. But there are also birth and death records, marriage records, military records, pensions, Social Security and other government records, such as Census records.

There are also many companies that will help you in your search- but usually for a fee. If you're lucky, you can make some headway on your own.

Thank you all for the help . I did start a 14 day free trial on Ancestry.com . I started from myself and went back been emailing and talking to gma and mom and dad got pretty far. Is there any way to get my Grandfathers service record he was in WW2 have birth day and death and soc. but cant seem to find a free site to track down his service record know he served because i have his flag from the funeral but not sure where he never talked about it.

I knew many of my predecessors in the WW II generation, and even served with a few of them. About 20% of those who served in WW II still survive. Those that I knew are gone now. They were the greatest. I regret their passing.

It must have been the same for those watching the Civil War generation go down. In 1890, the GAR had almost half a million members. What fun it would have been to hear the stories that they told in those days.

It must have been the same for those watching the Civil War generation go down. In 1890, the GAR had almost half a million members. What fun it would have been to hear the stories that they told in those days.

An appreciated observation, TD. Have been closely associated with WWII vets. And now they are very old. Was associated with a ranger who climbed those cliffs on D-Day. Was familiar with a paratrooper who dropped behind the lines. Worked a summer for a farmer who, when he took off his shirt, had horrific scars. Perhaps I should have asked him where and how he got them. But they were overwhelming and I suppose I knew where and how he got them. He was an American boy and he got caught up in a war. And he stepped up and did his duty.

Brother-in-law got caught up in the Minnesota National Guard and ended up sweeping the Phillipine Islands at 19! It's all still quite real. Another brother-in-law served as a cook. Don't know were, when, or whatever, but he was in it.

The dad was a farmer with 5 kids in 1941. He was passed over. Something about his corn and oats were more valued than his line service. I'd imagine that he might have done well, but it didn't happen that way.

But. I ramble, again!

ole

But ramble, I will. GGfather was 50 in 1861 and also had 5 children. Not much chance that he'd have been involved. What I've seen of him, he could've whupped 5 rebs by himself, but he remained in the backwaters. And out.

Has your family been in the area long, or do you know where they came from? One of the things that really helped my search take off was finding the family plot near the homestead where they'd settled when they came to California. I had 80 years' worth of relatives, just had to connect the dots of who was related to who and work back from there. If your family has been in or near the same state since the Civil War, you can probably do something similar.

Took your advice Ole and talked to my Grandmother and found out some cool stuff . Have a Grandfather that served during ww2 went over and ended up working in some kind of Army bingo parlor and just read out numbers LOL. Do have a cool gentleman at church that got captured by the japanese and went to one of thier prison camps man he has some gruesome tales and scars.